Key US Inflation Data Due Tonight
AUD
The Aussie dollar opens slightly better across the board against the majors, as Asian equities came through higher with the Nikkei up 0.14% and Hang Seng rising 0.3%. The ASX however fell 0.3% to a two-week low with the major banks underperforming. We saw our commodities performing well with increases to Iron Ore + 1% and Copper +0.7. Yesterday we saw our Import Prices resulting in a fall of -4.2% compared to the forecast of 0.4%, with the major contributor for the slower quarter being a decrease in demand for petroleum products globally. Later in the morning we have some low tier data to be released with the PPI q/q and the Private Sector Credit m/m to end off the week. As a side note, the new Bank of Japan Governor Ueda will chair his first monetary policy meeting at some stage this afternoon at which the board is expected to leave rates unchanged, however there's always the chance for fireworks.
USD
The AUDUSD moved temporarily lower overnight, falling to lows of 0.6595 before battling back up to 0.6628 this morning. Strong US corporate earnings being the major contributing factor with a strong performance on Wall St yesterday, that saw the NASDAQ close at +2.5%, while the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones finished +2%, and +1.6% respectively. To the data, and whilst Advance GDP q/q (economic growth) was well below expectations, Unemployment Claims were less than expected and Advance GDP Price Index (which is the broadest measure of inflation) was higher than expected. Markets seemingly ignoring the weaker growth data and focusing on the higher than expected inflation numbers with U.S 2-year yields rising by 14bps to 4.09%. Looking at tonight, we have the US Core PCE Price Index m/m, Employment Cost Index q/q these data should also show another firm month of underlying inflation and a further stalling in the disinflation trend.
EUR
The AUDEUR saw a slight increase overnight opening at 0.6011, with European equities opening lower yesterday with the CAC 40 down 0.2%, the DAX coming in flat at 0.0%. The April Economic Confidence also underperformed coming through at 99.3 falling short of the expectations of 99.99. A lot to look out for today with a host of data to be released, with the significant releases being French Flash GDP q/q, German Prelim CPI m/m, Spanish Flash CPI y/y.
GBP
The AUDGBP largely remains flat, opening this morning with a slight 4bps improvement. We saw the FTSE 100 underperforming closing yesterday at -0.1%. No data releases to note today, to finish what has been a quiet week in data releases overall.
NZD
The AUDNZD has levelled off in the last 24hrs after what has bene an otherwise tough week for the AUD, opening this morning at 1.0783.. The results of the ANZ New Zealand Business Outlook came through yesterday with business confidence remaining unchanged in April, and Inflation indicators continuing to fall, as the RBNZ will be expecting, given their forecast for inflation to fall steadily over the next year. No other data releases today.